Hixson and Signal Mountain have built quite a nice little baseball rivalry in recent years and it’s been four years since either of them won against each other at home.
Signal Mountain won the first meeting of the year at Hixson by a 10-3 final before Hixson won 20-7 on the Eagles’ field.
Hixson was awarded the number-one seed for the District 6-AA tournament based on those numbers, but the Eagles finally turned the table on Monday night in the winner’s bracket of the 6-AA competition.
It was a close, low-scoring game for a while before the host Eagles erupted late, scoring five runs in the fifth inning before adding three more in the seventh for a convincing 10-4 victory. There were two outs in both innings before anyone scored.
With the win, the Eagles improve to 23-7 and have Tuesday off as they await the winner of Hixson and Central in the loser’s bracket final that will be played Tuesday at 6. Hixson is now 22-8.
Signal Mountain coach Josh Gandy has had a tough couple of weeks as his 13-year-old God daughter was killed in a tragic car wreck, but the popular coach finally had something to smile about late Monday evening.
“It’s always a knock-down, drag-out game when these two teams play and this is the first time in four years that the host team won. We were the visitors on the scoreboard, so maybe that was why,” Gandy said after a brief meeting with his team down the left-field line after the final out had been recorded.
“That was a fun game and I’m really proud of how we competed. Their pitcher did a great job and I really liked how Hunter Davis pitched for us. He was really pumped at the start, but settled down to pitch well. And we got some timely hits. Logan Farr had a couple of timely hits, but we’ll enjoy a day off tomorrow before playing again on Wednesday,” Gandy nodded.
Hixson coach Colton Green could only shake his head when this one finally ended.
“We gave up too many unearned runs. Both of those innings where they scored most of their runs, we had two outs early. They got a man on to get the snowball rolling and we couldn’t get it stopped,” he expressed afterward.
“It’s win or go home for us tomorrow. Central is playing well right now and anything can happen in a tournament, but I’m confident that my guys will be ready to play tomorrow night,” he added with a note of confidence.
Davis, a tall and solid righty, pitched five innings and allowed four runs on five hits while recording seven strikeouts and walking three. Only two of those four runs were earned as the last two scored on an Eagle error.
In addition to getting the win on the mound, he was also one of three Signal Mountain players with two hits and he had two runs batted in.
Hixson scored first with a single run in the bottom of the first inning.
Manny Velazquez singled to left to lead off before stealing second and going to third on a wild pitch. He then scored easily on a single to right by Kane Johnson.
The Wildcats maintained that advantage for the next two frames, but the Eagles took the lead with two runs in the fourth. Davis had an RBI-double that drove in Ben Timblin, who had gotten Signal’s first hit with a one-out single to right. The second run scored on the first of four Hixson errors.
Losing pitcher Brad Dossett, who had doubled into the corner in left to lead off the second, evened the score with a solo homer in the same spot with two outs in the fourth.
It didn’t stay tied for long as the Eagles broke it open by sending eight batters to the plate in the fifth and scoring five runs. Dossett got two quick outs, but the walls came tumbling down for the Wildcats as the Eagles used two singles, two walks, a Hixson error and a hit batter to do all the damage.
Logan Farr and Davis both drove in runs with their hits during the inning.
Hixson scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth, but never threatened again as the freshman Timblin pitched the final two innings and only allowed a single walk.
The Eagles finished the evening with eight hits, including two by Sam Witherspoon, Davis and Farr. Dossett was the only Hixson player with two hits.
CENTRAL 5, RED BANK 1: The Purple Pounders came within a whisker of beating Signal Mountain on Saturday before the Eagles scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to prevail, 7-6.
Coach Glen Carter might have been worried about his kids might respond after such a tough loss, but they did so in a positive manner as they improved to 14-13 with Monday’s win over the Lions.
Red Bank had the bases loaded with nobody out in the fourth and didn’t score. Central also loaded the bases in the top of the fifth and scored twice on a single by Dylan Brown for a 2-0 lead.
Logan Denton had an RBI-single for the Lions in the bottom of the inning, but that was as close as the Lions would get as Central added another run in the sixth when Jaylen Jackson scored on a wild pitch before getting two more in the seventh, one on another RBI-single by Brown and the last one on a Red Bank error.
Evan Schwarzl was the winning pitcher for Central.
“I was a little bit worried about how we would respond after such a heart-breaking loss on Saturday, but we bounced back pretty well. We were able to stay together and stay focused,” said Carter after the game ended.
“I thought we played pretty well overall and I thought our pitchers Evan and Dylan both pitched well,” he added.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 000 250 3 – 10 8 1
HIXSON 100 120 0 – 4 5 4
Davis, Timblin (6) and Giles; Dossett, Roden and Satterfield.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)